Though the NBA has substantially less bad blood between teams and fewer rivalries than there were in the 1980’s and 90’s, there has been one brewing for some time now between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Washington Wizards.
Though the Wizards remain one of the teams atop the Eastern Conference pecking order, they had friction with the Boston Celtics last postseason and now this drama with the Cavs. Wizards 2-guard Bradley Beal reignited the flame just yesterday when he claimed the Wizards to be the best team in the East.
However, the Wizards backcourt didn’t stop there. In a recent sit down with Rachel Nichols and Paul Pierce on The Jump, John Wall stated that the Cavs tanked the number one seed last year so they could avoid seeing the Wizards in the second round of the playoffs (h/t Sports Illustrated):
“I think [the Cavs] understand what we can bring to the table, I think if you look at last year, people might say they did or didn’t, but I think they didn’t want the number one season for a reason because we would have played them in the second round.”
“I think they wanted to see us in the Eastern Conference finals, and we fell one game short of that.”
While Wall’s beliefs are likely a stretch, the Cavs did lose their last four games last season which slipped them to second seed and catapulted the Celtics to first. I also think it’s fair to say Washington would’ve given Cleveland more difficulties last season than the C’s did with a hobbled Isaiah Thomas. The Wizards’ physicality and grittiness could’ve given the Cavs all they can handle as opposed to the easy work they made of the Celtics.
When Cavs coach Tyronn Lue was asked about John Wall and Bradley Beal’s comments after the game, he just laughed it off and had no comment on their claims. Video courtesy of Fox Sports Ohio:
In the end, the Cavs got the last laugh not only last season, but just last night as LeBron James put together a jaw-dropping 57 point performance en route to a 130-122 victory.
As the season wears on, it’ll be interesting to see how these two Eastern Conference contenders fare now nearly three weeks into the campaign.
